*Winter Dreams*

In winter we seek comfort
In sunny nook, or at hearthside.
We wish to wash ourselves to the bone
*In Warmth*

The cats have slipped into the bath,
Their fur is hot to the touch,
They lay so close to the stove.
The oldest prefers a gentler warm:
My lap.

I feel
Her dreams running through my fingers
As she relives the hunt,
Re-dreams her life.

Winter dreams:
Lives remembered
Glow in dusty memory,
While new, bright love burns,
Like the flame.

 

*In Winter*

“In winter”, he began, “the sky is wider.” I wonder
what he means? The night skies are clearer, deeper, the
leaves gone, vistas opened that only a month ago were
impenetrable walls of green, gold and red. Is that it?

Herringbone clouds stretch from east to west,
In crossing the field, the fox looks over his shoulder ten times,
Snow flakes drift hundreds of feet before they find the ground,
A hawk is hounded by hundreds of sparrows,
The moon is so bright that it can snap twigs,
The shadows so dark, they can freeze the blood.

Is it the sky that is so wide or the width within us that
we cannot span? I wonder what he means?

 February’s snows have become March’s rains, and tonight, those
rains were punctuated by lightning and underlined by thunder.

Harbingers, as sure and reliable as falling leaves, as falling snow:
spring comes on a-rising:

Wee omens they may be,
Sma, true they are.
But golden are the wins
As they melt awa the mirk.

Slender greens of bulbs, swelling flowers of maples, lengthening days,
soon enough Spring will be upon us.

*Touch of the Wind*

In morning half-light
She caressed my face
With her soft, warm hand.

She wrapped her arms
Around me and her perfume
Drifted over me.

But with the dawn,
She slipped from me and
Revealed herself to all:

She walked across fields,
Combed the grasses
With the hem of her dress,

She walked hand in hand
With leaves on the trees,
And she left me in love.

*Song of Solomon*

Spring comes drifting down,
Lusty pines
Fill the air
With their sexual fullness.

The air is heavy with
Desire,
A desire fulfilled
On Spring breezes.
Pollen adrift
In a catholic dance,
Alpha looking for omega.

Spring comes drifting down,
The lusty pines
Fill the air
With their song of Solomon.

*Where We Go*

When I saw the moon,
I was carried away,
Away from the drive,
Away from the night,
Away from time.

When I saw the moon,
I knew that it was time,
Time to go,
Time to go,
Time to go.

So, into the air
I flew,
Head, heels, all aswirl,
Like breathing
For the first time.

*Going, In Circles*

With the softest steps
I walk
Through time
Searching
For the path
To take me anywhere
But here.

Life’s for going, you know,
It’s not for standing still.
It’s a road going nowhere, but,
It’s not for standing still.

It’s only change for the sake
Of change
Same words,
Different places,
Looking to be
Anywhere
But here.

Life’s for going, you know,
It’s not for standing still.
It’s a road going nowhere, but,
It’s not for standing still.

*Dusty Brown Lie*

I stare into empty eyes
As life withers away.
The green of life
Slowly slips to brown.

“Scrff”, as I dig looking for damp, a foot-and-a half
below the duff, and it is still ash dry. The clay line
is nearly impenetrable when dry like this. “Scrff”

Planter’s dreams
Dry in the wind,
And in a few days,
They will blow away.

I’ve dug into a desert sarcophagus, in looking for water, in looking
for life, finding neither. It’s a drought, of water, of life.
Goodbyes are all that are left, as “potential” fades like any hope
for rain this summer.

Summer,
The time of green,
Lied
A dusty brown lie.

*Saying Hello…Saying Goodbye*

Birth
Is the first hello.
Then comes a string of friends,
Lovers, and people unknown
Parading through
Defining a lifetime with greetings.

Hello
is but a prelude,
Just a set-up
For goodbye.
Life (in the end)
Is more loss
Than gain,
As all of the hellos melt away
To one final goodbye.

*Circle*

Draw a circle
In the sand,
Plant the seed
And watch it grow,
Sun after sun,
Until it’s circle has been run.
Seed unto seed.

Draw a circle
Among the stars,
Begin the year
And watch it pass,
Sun after sun,
Until it’s circle has been run.
Year unto year.

Draw a circle
In the heart
Watch the birth of a spirit
That grows,
Sun after sun,
Until it’s circle has been run.
Life unto life.

*The Rain Today*

The rain that today plits
Onto the windows,
Will icily bounce
To the ground, tomorrow.
Winter is coming,
Watch it in the darker mornings,
Earlier evenings,
As the candle burns from both ends,
As we are steadily and gently
Guided toward a shortest day
And longest night.

Soon enough,
Snow will swirl around us,
Smoke will curl from chimneys,
Summer will be a dream,
Because,
Winter is coming.

*The Essence*

The fragrance of earth-dampened leaves,
Canada geese circling treetop high,
Stars at 6 am,
Milkweed seeds floating by,
Crystal ice fingers gripping blades of grass,
First wood smoke wisps in the air,
A Monet palette of tree colors.
Once damp leaves smoldering after a burn,
Geese dappling a pond in grey, black and white,
Stars at 6 pm,
Milkweed parachutes caught in grass, inches from home,
Blades of grass frost burnt, broken,
Leaves slipped to the ground, in paint puddles.

I’m half way between the heat and the cold,
Between summer and winter,
Between here and gone.

*Solstice Prayer*

On the darkest night
When all seemed lost,
Ships were sinking
With their oceans half-crossed.

Hope was born of fear
And desperate need,

And the light was kindled
From the dark.

Deep into the darkest night
When all seemed lost,
Waves and hearts were calmed:
Harbors found, oceans crossed.